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Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes (2012)

Chapter: CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics

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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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Suggested Citation:"CHAPTER FIVE Alcohol- and Drug-Testing Statistics." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14635.
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19 CHAPTER FIVE ALCOHOL- AND DRUG-TESTING STATISTICS Comprehensive alcohol- and drug-testing statistics for the transportation workplace are not readily available to the public. To obtain the most recent set of complete alcohol- and drug-testing statistics, DF Consulting (DFC) made a request for the most recent set of data to the DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance (ODAPC), the FAA, the USCG, the FMCSA, the PHMSA, the FTA, and the FRA. ODAPC provided a coordinated response to DFC in the form of a spreadsheet containing data for all the modes (Swart, personal communication, Nov. 15, 2010). Unless otherwise noted, the following statistics reflect what was provided to DFC by ODAPC. DFC calculated the positivity rates for the individual modes based on the data provided by ODAPC. The positivity rate for drugs was calculated by adding the verified positive tests for one or more drugs to the total number of refusals (adulterated, substituted, “shy bladder,” and other refusals) and dividing the sum by the total number of test results. The positivity rate for alcohol was calculated by adding the con- firmed alcohol violations (tests with BAC  0.040) to the total number of refusals (“shy lung” and other refusals) and dividing the sum by the total number of test results. Refusals were added to verified positive tests because, according to 49 CFR Part 40.261, a refusal has the same consequences as a violation, presumably because an employee who refuses does so as an attempt to hide a positive test. The positivity rates are not weighted by the stratified sam- ples that were often used to collect the data. Therefore, they may not represent the true values for the relevant populations. AVIATION The FAA collects data from all major airlines (with 14 CFT Part 121 certification, such as Delta, United, and Ameri- can). There are about 100 of these companies. The FAA also requires employers with 50 or more safety-sensitive employ- ees to report data. In addition, approximately 2,000 com- panies with fewer than 50 safety-sensitive employees are selected at random to provide data. Tables 6 and 7 report the FAA 2008 drug and alcohol test results, respectively. Figure 2 shows the drug and alcohol positivity rates by test type. For drugs, pre-employment tests had the highest number of positives, followed by random tests and follow-up. Reason- able cause was the type of test with the highest weighted posi- tivity rate. Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug. For alcohol, reasonable cause tests had the highest num- ber of positives, followed by random and follow-up tests. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. TABLE 6 FAA 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 85,291 84,409 833 645 125 9 13 52 1 4 6 38 185 Random 110,207 109,559 575 362 150 1 14 62 3 6 12 52 246 Postaccident 693 688 5 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 Reasonable Cause 197 159 30 15 11 0 1 7 0 2 1 5 1 Return-to-Duty 363 354 9 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Follow-up 2,759 2,708 50 25 16 0 0 11 0 0 0 1 5 Total 199,510 197,877 1,502 1,056 307 10 28 133 4 12 19 96 440

20 MARITIME All marine employers are required to report testing data. However, 2008 data were received from approximately 50–55% of the marine employers—with consortia/third- party administrators (C/TPAs) doing the reporting for their individual companies. C/TPAs reported approximately 80–85% of the submitted data. As mentioned earlier, 49 CFR Part 40 alcohol-testing requirements do not apply to the maritime industry. Thus, no alcohol data could be obtained. Table 8 reports the USCG 2008 drug-testing results. Fig- ure 3 shows the drug positivity rates by test type. Pre-employment tests had the highest number of posi- tives, followed by random and postaccident tests. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest unweighted posi- tivity rate. Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug. MOTOR CARRIERS Because the size of motor carriers can range from one employee to several thousand employees, to obtain unbiased estimates of alcohol and drug usage, the FMCSA collects data from motor carriers on the basis of stratified samples, as follows: • 1 CDL driver: select 600 carriers; • 2 to 19 CDL drivers: select 900 carriers; • 20 to 99 CDL drivers: select 450 carriers; • 100 to 249 CDL drivers: select 400 carriers; • 250 to 999 CDL drivers: select 400 carriers; • 1,000 or more CDL drivers: select all carriers. Tables 9 and 10 report the FMCSA 2008 drug and alcohol test results, respectively. Figure 4 shows the drug and alco- hol unweighted positivity rates by test type. For drugs, pre-employment tests had the highest num- ber of positives, followed by random and postaccident tests. TABLE 7 FAA 2008 ALCOHOL TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of S cr ee ni ng T es t R es ul ts B A C  0 .0 20 B A C  0 .0 20 N um be r of C on fi rm a- ti on T es t R es ul ts C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C 0 .0 20 –0 .0 39 C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C  0 .0 40 Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts “S hy L un g” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 2,022 2,021 1 5 0 0 0 0 10 Random 49,767 49,640 112 149 34 46 0 15 23 Postaccident 269 268 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Reasonable Cause 223 89 124 117 19 96 0 10 1 Return-to-Duty 173 172 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Follow-up 1,485 1,468 17 15 2 10 0 0 0 Total 53,939 53,658 256 288 55 154 0 25 34 FIGURE 2 FAA 2008 drug and alcohol unweighted positivity rates by test type.

21 TABLE 8 USCG 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 36,677 35,669 937 726 167 1 17 56 19 3 4 45 239 Random 57,526 56,860 587 361 164 6 17 58 10 5 1 63 319 Postaccident 7,290 7,181 95 63 26 1 2 3 2 2 0 10 102 Reasonable Cause 709 641 54 39 10 0 1 12 1 0 0 13 1 Return-to-Duty 443 437 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 Follow-up 583 569 12 9 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 Total 103,228 101,357 1,690 1,203 368 8 37 132 32 10 5 134 664 TABLE 9 FMCSA 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 457,511 451,008 6,077 4,161 1,514 51 154 354 36 38 75 277 1,121 Random 448,881 445,329 3,043 1,777 990 8 71 272 19 18 49 423 1,165 Postaccident 20,449 20,181 236 141 70 0 8 25 1 1 1 29 155 Reasonable Suspicion 728 605 97 43 40 1 10 11 2 0 1 23 7 Return-to-Duty 2,433 2,392 41 29 8 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 6 Follow-up 7,512 7,377 123 60 41 0 4 18 2 2 1 7 29 Total 937,514 926,892 9,617 6,211 2,663 60 248 684 60 59 127 759 2,483 FIGURE 3 USCG 2008 unweighted drug positivity rates by test type.

22 Reasonable suspicion was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. Marijuana was the most com- monly detected drug. For alcohol, random tests had the highest number of positives, followed by reasonable cause and follow-up tests. Reasonable suspicion was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. Every few years, the FMCSA also publishes the results of its drug- and alcohol-testing survey (Gruberg 1997, 2007; Khan 2010). Those reports provide positivity rates that are weighted by stratified samples and therefore are a better estimation of the positivity rates in the national population of commercial drivers. Tables 11 to 13 report the adjusted positivity rates from 2003 to 2008. Reasonable suspicion was the type of drug test with the highest weighted positivity rate. Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug. Reasonable suspicion was the type of alcohol test with the highest weighted positivity rate. Thus, no major discrepancies were observed between the unweighted and weighted rates. TABLE 11 WEIGHTED YEARLY POSITIVITY RATES (%) FOR RANDOM DRUG TESTS BY DRUG TYPE Drug Category 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Any Drug 2.00 1.60 1.70 1.30 1.30 1.04 Amphetamines 0.10* 0.10* 0.40* 0.30* 0.20* 0.07 Cocaine 0.30 0.50 0.50 0.40 0.40 0.20 Marijuana 0.60 0.80 0.60 1.00 0.60 0.65 Opiates 0.01 0.10* 0.040* 0.03* 0.00 0.040* Phencyclidine 0.00* 0.10* 0.00* – – 0.00 Note: Estimates marked with an asterisk (*) must be interpreted with caution because of extremely low precision. A dash (–) indicates no usage found in sample cases. TABLE 10 FMCSA 2008 ALCOHOL TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of S cr ee ni ng T es t R es ul ts B A C  0 .0 20 B A C  0 .0 20 N um be r of C on fi rm a- ti on T es t R es ul ts C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C 0 .0 20 –0 .0 39 C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C  0 .0 40 Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts “S hy L un g” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 5,235 5,218 17 125 3 3 0 0 2 Random 118,511 117,876 585 960 61 88 4 46 71 Postaccident 10,524 10,431 69 143 7 11 0 24 6 Reasonable Suspicion 498 339 139 126 30 87 0 20 0 Return-to-Duty 489 485 4 11 0 0 0 0 1 Follow-up 3,254 3,225 28 18 10 8 0 1 1 Total 138,511 137,574 842 1,383 111 197 4 91 81 FIGURE 4 FMCSA 2008 drug and alcohol unweighted positivity rates by test type.

23 TABLE 12 WEIGHTED YEARLY DRUG POSITIVITY RATES (%) BY NONRANDOM TEST TYPE Test Reason 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Pre-employment 3.10 2.20 2.10 1.90 1.60 1.28 Postcrash 1.90 2.50 2.40 1.90 2.70 2.04 Reasonable Suspicion 19.40* 40.30 16.70 30.00 48.00 39.37 Return-to-Duty 3.60 9.30* 2.60 5.40* 6.50* 1.03 Follow-up 3.10 3.80 2.40 1.90 1.60 3.70 Phencyclidine 0.00* 0.10* 0.00* – – 0.00 Note: Estimates marked with an asterisk (*) must be interpreted with caution because of extremely low precision. TABLE 13 WEIGHTED YEARLY ALCOHOL POSITIVITY RATES (%) BY TEST REASON Test Reason 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Pre-employment 0.01* 0.01* 0.03* 1.20* 0.20* 0.01* Random 0.20 0.10 0.20* 0.30 0.25 0.19* Postcrash 0.10* 0.10* 0.10* 0.30 0.10 0.13 Reasonable Suspicion 24.20 11.00 6.40 32.20* 29.40* 11.30 Return-to-Duty 0.00* 0.40* 0.05* 0.10* 0.60* 0.00* Follow-up 4.70* 0.20* 0.20 0.10* 0.20 2.45* Note: Estimates marked with an asterisk (*) must be interpreted with caution because of extremely low precision. Based on the 2008 survey results (Khan 2010), 48% of all motor carriers have alcohol- and drug-testing programs in place, covering 89% of all commercial drivers. The two per- centages are explained by the fact that small carriers, which tend to be less compliant with DOT regulations, constitute the majority of companies in the national fleet but include relatively few drivers. One minor note of caution about the relatively low response rates in the surveys is warranted. For the 2008 survey, for example, drug survey forms were sent to 2,973 randomly selected motor carriers, covering 443,340 com- mercial drivers. The survey was completed and returned to FMCSA by 2,266 (76%) of the carriers. Of those, 1,678 provided usable data on random drug tests. Thus, usable data on random drug tests were obtained from 56% of the total company sample. Concerns about the relatively low response rate are mitigated by the sound sampling meth- odology, and there are no reasons to infer systematic dif- ferences between the carriers that provided usable data and carriers that did not. Nonetheless, a higher response rate would have been preferable. PIPELINES PHMSA defines a small employer as having 50 or fewer employees and a large employer as having 51 or more employees. For 2008, the compliance rate in submitting data to PHMSA was nearly 100% for large employers and 55% for small employers. Because small employers represent a relatively small percentage of the total workforce, however, it is estimated that the available data represent 96% of the total safety-sensitive workforce. Tables 14 and 15 report the PHMSA 2008 drug and alco- hol test results, respectively. Figure 5 shows the drug and alcohol positivity rates by test type. For drugs, random tests had the highest number of posi- tives, followed by pre-employment and follow-up tests. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest TABLE 14 PHMSA 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 18,174 17,949 210 168 24 1 2 18 3 2 0 10 50 Random 38,229 37,985 225 139 61 4 13 10 5 2 4 8 116 Postaccident 637 627 10 7 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Reasonable Cause 70 58 12 5 7 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Return-to-Duty 208 203 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Follow-up 2,371 2,349 19 11 6 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 Total 59,689 59,171 481 334 100 5 18 30 8 4 4 21 168

24 unweighted positivity rate. Marijuana was the most com- monly detected drug. For alcohol, reasonable cause tests had the highest number of positives, with follow-up tests second. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. PUBLIC TRANSIT The FTA collects and receives data from all regulated grant- ees and all subrecipients from the grantees and any safety- sensitive contractors who are considered to be covered employers by FTA. TABLE 15 PHMSA 2008 ALCOHOL TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of S cr ee ni ng T es t R es ul ts B A C  0 .0 20 B A C  0 .0 20 N um be r of C on fi rm a- ti on T es t R es ul ts C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C 0 .0 20 –0 .0 39 C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C  0 .0 40 Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts “S hy L un g” O th er R ef us al s Postaccident 385 385 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 Reasonable Cause 85 70 15 13 0 13 0 0 0 Return-to-Duty 73 73 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Follow-up 1,265 1,250 14 12 2 8 0 1 0 Total 1,808 1,778 29 28 2 21 0 1 0 TABLE 16 FTA 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 89,406 87,482 1,792 1,351 344 49 25 64 9 6 9 108 180 Random 97,546 96,742 715 448 234 4 16 31 5 4 20 60 207 Postaccident 14,630 14,450 168 87 64 1 10 12 0 0 1 11 41 Reasonable Suspicion 561 500 45 19 20 1 4 4 1 0 2 13 6 Return-to-Duty 761 747 12 10 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 Follow-up 6,154 6,071 75 29 40 0 2 5 0 0 4 4 6 Total 209,058 205,992 2,807 1,944 703 55 57 117 15 10 36 198 443 FIGURE 5 PHMSA 2008 drug and alcohol unweighted positivity rates by test type.

25 Tables 16 and 17 report the FTA 2008 drug and alcohol test results, respectively. Figure 6 shows the drug and alco- hol positivity rates by test type. For drugs, pre-employment tests had the highest num- ber of positives, followed by random and postaccident tests. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. Marijuana was the most com- monly detected drug. For alcohol, reasonable suspicion tests had the highest number of positives, followed by random and postaccident tests. Reasonable cause was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. The FTA regularly produces comprehensive reports on the results of its drug- and alcohol-testing program. The most recent (Redington et al. 2009) reports the drug and alcohol positivity rates from 1995 to 2007. As can be seen in Figure 7, the positivity rates for random drug tests and random alcohol tests both declined considerably over time. RAIL For 2008, the FRA collected data from all employers with 400,000 man-hours per year or more. These 40 railroads employ 105,564 of the estimated 130,000 industry safety- sensitive workforce. Tables 18 and 19 report the FRA 2008 drug and alcohol test results, respectively. Figure 8 shows the drug and alco- hol positivity rates by test type. Note that ODAPC provided no data for postaccident tests. For drugs, random tests had the highest number of positives, followed by pre-employment and follow-up tests. Follow-up was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug. TABLE 17 FTA 2008 ALCOHOL TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of S cr ee ni ng T es t R es ul ts B A C  0 .0 20 B A C  0 .0 20 N um be r of C on fi rm a- ti on T es t R es ul ts C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C 0 .0 20 –0 .0 39 C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C  0 .0 40 Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts “S hy L un g” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 15,102 15,081 19 22 8 6 1 1 4 Random 40,237 40,132 86 75 24 41 6 13 26 Postaccident 13,300 13,273 20 18 2 13 1 6 18 Reasonable Suspicion 538 388 138 129 26 94 1 11 5 Return-to-Duty 425 420 4 3 2 1 0 1 0 Follow-up 5,026 5,004 19 18 7 10 1 2 1 Total 74,628 74,298 286 265 69 165 10 34 54 FIGURE 6 FTA 2008 drug and alcohol unweighted positivity rates by test type.

26 For alcohol, random tests had the highest number of posi- tives, followed by reasonable suspicion/cause and follow- up tests. Follow-up was the type of test with the highest unweighted positivity rate. Figure 9 shows the combined drug and alcohol positiv- ity rates for postaccident tests from 1987 to 2007 (United Transportation Union 2008). The data were obtained from 39 railroads with 400,000 man-hours per year or more. TABLE 18 FRA 2008 DRUG TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of T es t R es ul ts V er ifi ed N eg at iv e T es ts V er ifi ed P os it iv e T es ts f or O ne o r M or e D ru gs P os it iv e fo r M ar ij ua na P os it iv e fo r C oc ai ne P os it iv e fo r P he nc yc li di ne P os it iv e fo r O pi at es P os it iv e fo r A m ph et am in es Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts A du lt er at ed S ub st it ut ed “S hy B la dd er ” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 9,093 9,034 56 47 6 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 14 Random 37,585 37,412 163 97 49 0 2 19 2 2 3 3 41 Reasonable Suspicion/Cause 298 296 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Return-to-Duty 3,816 3,789 26 15 8 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 4 Follow-up 2,893 2,868 21 9 11 0 0 2 0 0 1 3 15 Total 53,685 53,399 267 168 75 1 3 25 2 2 4 11 75 TABLE 19 FRA 2008 ALCOHOL TEST RESULTS Test Reason T ot al N um be r of S cr ee ni ng T es t R es ul ts B A C  0 .0 20 B A C  0 .0 20 N um be r of C on fi rm a- ti on T es t R es ul ts C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C 0 .0 20 –0 .0 39 C on fi rm at io n T es ts B A C  0 .0 40 Refusals C an ce ll ed T es ts “S hy L un g” O th er R ef us al s Pre-employment 960 959 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Random 41,782 41,648 129 128 70 58 2 3 0 Reasonable Suspicion/Cause 253 251 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 Return-to-Duty 3,751 3,736 15 15 4 11 0 0 0 Follow-up 2,514 2,476 38 37 9 28 0 0 0 Total 49,260 49,070 184 182 84 98 2 4 0 FIGURE 7 FTA annual drug and alcohol positivity rates for random tests.

27 DRUG POSITIVITY RATES IN DIFFERENT WORKFORCES Figure 10 shows the overall positivity rates for four types of workforce: the combined U.S. workforce; the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce; the general U.S. workforce (Quest Diagnostics September 2010); and the DOT-only workforce (Swart, personal communication, Nov. 22, 2010). Note that the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce includes primarily the DOT-regulated workforce, with some non-DOT employees from the nuclear energy industry. Transportation Security Agency screeners are not included in the DOT-only workforce. The positivity rate for the combined U.S. workforce dropped from 13.6% in 1988 to 3.6% in 2009. From 2005 to 2009, the positivity rate for the federally mandated, safety-sensitive work- force dropped from 2.3% to 1.5%. From 2008 to 2010, the posi- tivity rate for the DOT-only workforce dropped from 1.64% to 1.49%. Thus, positivity rates have been declining over time, with the DOT-only workforce having the lowest positivity rates. Consistent with ODAPC data for the individual modes, the test with the highest positivity rate was reasonable cause, for both the federally mandated, safety-sensitive workforce and the general U.S. workforce (see Table 20). Also consistent with ODAPC data, the most commonly detected drug was marijuana (see Table 21). Note, how- ever, that the general U.S. workforce is also tested for some medicinal drugs. In general, supervisors currently receive 1 h of training on the specific, contemporaneous physical, behavioral, and performance indicators of probable drug use and 1 h on the specific, contemporaneous physical, behavioral, and perfor- mance indicators of alcohol use. This training has proven to be effective. In all modes, reasonable cause tests have the highest alcohol and drug positivity rates, as shown in Table 22. Although the results vary by mode, it appears that supervisors are better able to detect alcohol than drugs. This is not surprising, as people tend to have more famil- iarity with the visible effects of alcohol than the visible FIGURE 8 FRA 2008 drug and alcohol unweighted positivity rates by test type. FIGURE 9 FRA combined drug and alcohol positivity rates for postaccident tests, 1987–2007, as reported by the United Transportation Union (2008).

28 TABLE 20 ANNUAL POSITIVITY RATES (%) FOR FEDERALLY MANDATED, SAFETY-SENSITIVE WORKFORCE AND GENERAL U.S. WORKFORCE, BY TESTING REASON Test Reason Federally Mandated, Safety-Sensitive Workforce General U.S. Workforce 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Pre-employment 2.6 2.3 2.0 1.7 1.5 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.6 3.4 Postaccident 3.0 2.7 2.6 2.3 2.2 5.8 5.7 5.8 5.6 5.3 Random 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 6.6 5.5 5.7 5.3 5.4 Reasonable Cause 13.4 12.4 11.1 9.9 11.1 28.3 18.1 19.2 22.0 26.8 Return-to-Duty 3.0 3.2 3.3 3.1 3.0 6.0 5.8 5.6 5.3 4.6 Follow-up 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.2 2.5 9.6 7.4 7.7 7.6 7.5 Periodic 0.8 0.6 0.8 0.7 0.8 2.4 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.5 Note. Periodic testing is not part of DOT testing. TABLE 21 ANNUAL POSITIVITY RATES (%) FOR FEDERALLY MANDATED, SAFETY-SENSITIVE WORKFORCE AND GENERAL U.S. WORKFORCE, BY DRUG TYPE Drug Category Federally Mandated, Safety-Sensitive Workforce General U.S. Workforce 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Overall 2.30 2.00 1.80 1.60 1.50 4.50 4.40 4.40 4.20 4.20 Amphetamines 0.35 0.28 0.25 0.26 0.29 0.48 0.42 0.44 0.48 0.57 Barbiturates 0.25 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26 Benzodiazepines 0.58 0.62 0.67 0.70 0.74 Cocaine 0.60 0.58 0.44 0.32 0.24 0.69 0.69 0.55 0.39 0.28 Marijuana 1.10 0.94 0.88 0.77 0.69 2.30 2.00 2.00 1.80 1.70 Methadone 0.23 0.22 0.23 0.22 0.23 Opiates 0.18 0.17 0.18 0.20 0.21 0.29 0.28 0.32 0.34 0.39 Oxycodone 0.56 0.64 0.88 0.83 1.00 Phencyclidine 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 Propoxyphene 0.57 0.55 0.58 0.56 0.48 FIGURE 10 Urine drug test annual positivity rates.

29 effects of drugs. In either case, what is remarkable is that with a minimum of 2 h of training, 1 for alcohol and 1 for drugs, supervisors can correctly identify so many signs of illegal alcohol and drug use. TABLE 22 PROBABLE CAUSE ALCOHOL AND DRUG POSITIVITY RATES (%) BY MODE Mode Positive Alcohol Rate Positive Drug Rate Aviation 47.5 19.3 Maritime 17.1 Motor Carrier 21.5 16.9 Pipelines 15.3 17.1 Public Transit 19.7 10.9 Rail 1.1 0.9

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TRB’s Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 23: Operator Drug- and Alcohol-Testing Across Modes explores practices used to deter drug and alcohol use among operators within the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) regulated community.

The report includes a brief history of the transportation workplace drug- and alcohol-testing program, the general approach, the reasons for testing, some of the issues that impact the validity of the tests, and an outline of the specific regulations by mode.

Some alcohol- and drug-testing statistics are presented in the report to help provide a sense of the scope of the program and of the prevalence of illegal alcohol and drug use among safety-sensitive employees.

The report also highlights alternative strategies aimed at helping to deter illegal alcohol and drug use among employees.

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